The cloud computing industry rolls along at a staggering pace. So much so that one of the biggest issues currently affecting adoptees is the speed at which it expands. It may sound like a badly made ’90s sci-fi flick, but ‘Cloud Sprawl’ is causing many a headache for IT directors across the globe. And while the term may have been first coined over two years ago, it appears it’s only now that we’re coming to […]
Autodesk is planning to take the bulk of its software onto cloud services in the next three years, beginning with AutoCAD WS. “The collaborative aspects of cloud working are going to revolutionize the design field,” Andrew Anagnost, vice president of suites, web services and subscription at Autodesk, told The Register. He explained that a properly configured platform could host design data and ensure that individual users would get the most relevant information, such as building […]
Small businesses and start-ups will push the use of cloud computing into the IT mainstream as security concerns continue to hinder take up among larger firms. Steve O’Donnell, a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers’ cloud technology division, explained that the needs of small companies are perfectly met by cloud technologies. “Start-ups need to be agile. They’re concerned about costs and speed of execution but not about risks, so they adopt cloud […]
Before spacecraft are blasted off into space, the astronauts that travel in them, mission-control personnel, and other key staff undergo specialised education and training, launch procedures are verified and rehearsed, and policies are drawn up so that everyone is clear about their roles. Organisations wanting to move into the cloud computing space need to employ similar rigour. Although cloud service technology is easily available and is a potential business game-changer, it is best for enterprises […]
Cloud computing and SaaS have gained considerable momentum over the last few years. Although companies are adopting cloud and SaaS technology, there is great confusion over the applications in which cloud can serve an organization. Organizations are left with endless questions about security, infrastructure options, scalability, administration and business agility. While application programming interfaces (APIs) have improved from many vendors, going cloud does not eliminate the need for integration and/or middleware. Some smart platform-as-a-service (PaaS) […]
Those IT organizations that move to cloud computing are moving to SOA (service-oriented architecture), whether they understand it or not. Hear me out: Private and public clouds often rely on APIs for their functionality, which are typically Web services that can be combined and recombined into solutions. The result: SOA, at its essence. The problem is that many of those who define and implement cloud computing don’t have a good grasp of SOA. Although they […]
Under pressure to move to cloud computing by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), yet harboring intractable concerns about protecting sensitive data, many federal agency managers are opting for private clouds, which they consider more secure than public cloud environments. At the U.S. Census Bureau, for example, officials are concentrating about 90% of their cloud efforts on establishing an internal private cloud, which is hosted at the bureau’s data computing center in Bowie, Md., […]
Cost reduction, security, manageability and simplifying the migration to Windows 7 are driving organizations to adopt an aggressive deployment approach when it comes to desktop and application virtualization, say the results of a study conducted by Forrester Consulting. Over half of the 546 organizations surveyed ranked desktop and application virtualization as a critical or major initiative over the next 12 to 18 months. Furthermore, deployment levels are predicted to grow from 27% to 46%, taking […]
Cloud computing is a remarkable phenomenon, with analysts at IDC predicting public cloud computing services to be a $73 billion market by 2015. However, many CIOs are still puzzled by the term and may not yet be familiar with how appropriate ‘The Cloud’ is for certain business IT functions. Concerns over security, too, remain an issue for some. The wide availability of computing power, storage capacity and software over the internet, through ‘The Cloud’, presents […]
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) – the organisation that creates technology standards for the federal government – has this week released a new Cloud Computing roadmap and reference architecture to provide guidance for public sector ICT procurers and implementors. The NIST says: “This solution will create a level playing field for industry to discuss and compare their cloud offerings with the US Government (USG). The resulting reference architecture and taxonomy for cloud […]
It looks like the end for the PC. Unlike the Dinosaurs the PC will not just vanish from the face of the Earth – they will just stop being replaced and gradually die out to be spotted on the desks of die-hard antiquarians and IT folk who like to tinker with the insides of anything that can be opened. I can even date when this process began. It was the day, the 18th August to […]
Virtualization has been a boon for multiuser systems, letting them run the Windows operating system and applications on servers. Each user’s state is saved as a virtual desktop that can be remotely accessed from PCs, laptops, netbooks, tablets, smartphones and even dumb “thin clients” (terminals costing as little as $200). The downside is that remote users of server-hosted virtualization need to be online to take advantage of the virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI)—a show-stopper for highly […]
As enterprises adopt storage and server virtualization strategies, they are realizing that monitoring, reporting, and managing such an environment actually increases the complexities of storage management. This has been a challenge even in a physical environment as administrators try to understand the resources upon which business-critical applications depend. This assumes a higher degree of complexity in a virtual environment, wherein physical storage is now separated by two or more degrees from the application, making a […]
Defense Department officials are looking to balance efficiency, effectiveness and security while moving away from the department’s decentralized network of computer servers and data centers and into “cloud” computing, the DOD’s deputy chief information officer said Sept. 7. “We must balance all three,” said Robert J. Carey, who is also the deputy assistant secretary of defense for information management, integration and technology. “We have to serve the information needs of our warfighters, as well as […]
Microsoft’s confirmation that client versions of Windows 8 will include its Hyper-V hypervisor could turn out to be one of the most interesting and significant aspects of the upcoming platform. With a baked-in Type 1 hypervisor, various kinds of use cases that have been mooted for virtualisation will become possible, such as running separate corporate and personal desktop environments side by side simultaneously on the same machine. This kind of virtualisation is now familiar on […]
The central aspect of any business is communication, and ensuring high levels of contact are maintained is a key concern for any company. Broadband and VoIP services are two of the most common aspects of business operations in the modern world, but what actually are they? Whilst the vast majority of us will be familiar with the concept of broadband we are often unable to distinguish home services for business ones. VoIP, on the other […]
Combining mobile technology and cloud computing holds promise for the CAD/CAM community, writes Peter Thorne, managing director of Cambashi. Considering what mobile technologies have to offer the CAD/CAM community, the case for them appears to be fairly straightforward. Connected tablets, laptops and smartphones allow users to access CAD designs, engineering applications and data, as well as interact with the project team. These devices can be used in the field, where actions and decisions can be […]
Cloud computing is certainly attracting headlines in the media. You might have noticed Microsoft’s Cloud Power advertising blitz, or seen Apple’s Steve Jobs talking excitedly about iCloud. The trouble is that, for most companies, it’s hard to work out whether any of this hype is relevant to their business. So is the cloud an option for you? As it happens, it is likely that your company already uses a cloud-based solution. If you subscribe to […]
Business seems to be switching on to the benefits of virtual computing: 37% of companies say they will migrate 61% or more of their applications to a private cloud environment in the future. But while cloud technology is constantly touted as the next big thing in IT, only 6% of companies are planning on moving to the full public cloud. Which suggests that concerns over security become even more real once applications move beyond a […]
Many small-business owners may not realize that the cloud plays a big role in their business operations, and its importance is growing every day. I’m often asked, “What exactly is the cloud, and why does my company need it?” Simply put, the cloud hosts resources and applications that are accessed through the Internet, and it now offers small businesses access to powerful capabilities that once were only within reach of larger corporations. From a small-business […]
Interphase Corp., a small Plano telecommunications company, is taking a gamble on breaking into a new market, selling cloud computing hardware to recession-beaten schools, governments and businesses. Interphase has launched a product portfolio of six desktop virtualization thin clients, small devices that do not store information but can create a desktop environment for users by relying on a remote host server. Companies are increasingly using cloud computing services to deliver their software from remote servers, […]
Demand for cloud computing is set to accelerate in the days ahead as a survey conducted by CompTIA shows an increased interest among organizations in investing in SaaS applications. More than half (56 percent) of the organizations surveyed for CompTIA’s Second Annual Trends in Cloud Computing study said their investment in cloud computing will increase by 10 percent or more over the next 12 months. CompTIA, a no-government organization that often studies on IT sector, […]
Small and medium businesses have yet to fully embrace server virtualization, and ones that have already deployed the technology aren’t paying enough attention to backup and security in virtual environments. That’s the takeaway from a recent Symantec-commissioned survey of 658 businesses worldwide, which ranged in size from 5 to 240 employees and spanned a variety of industries. The survey, conducted in May by Applied Research and published by Symantec on Wednesday, shows that 70 percent […]
State sales tax systems created to generate revenue from face-to-face exchanges of tangible goods are struggling to keep up with the rapid shift of business transactions into the so-called cloud of the Internet. As more companies use cloud-based servers and software, which are remote networks of computing resources often shared by multiple customers, the 20th-century rules of taxation no longer apply. Instead, accountants, lawyers, state tax officials and companies such as Google Inc. (GOOG), Apple […]
Mobility and cloud provider Model Metrics identified mobile cloud computing as the number one enterprise cloud priority in 2011 and said that mobile use among its cloud computing customers has increased three fold in the first half of this year. According to the Chicago-based cloud and mobile VAR, more than 80 percent of its customers have smartphone and tablet adoption plans as part of their broader cloud computing initiatives, making mobilizing the cloud the top […]
People are only just starting to understand new technological trends such as virtualization and cloud computing, when along comes a phenomenon called “Big Data.” That trend doesn’t really focus on burgeoning content or data encouraged by all those cloud activities. Big Data is all about tools and processes that allow organizations to manage and analyze very large data sets that yield insights from which the business may profit. According to storage provider and cloud solution […]
According to a recent report on Cloud trends, analyst house Gartner recommends that network managers should test or emulate the performance of Cloud -based applications in all geographies where they plan to deploy. There is a need for organisations to adopt a Cloud computing service that addresses specific issues around latency such as distance, congestion and monitoring. Despite all the hype around the move to the Cloud over the past few years, latency remains the […]
Decision making in business is often a slow, sometimes laborious process. Working in IT, the decision being made is just the start. Traditionally you then had to buy the kit, deploy and finally roll it out to the community of users. Months (or more) could pass before a chosen strategy came to fruition. I imagine a number of you are already grimacing in frustration at the thought… This is one of the major incentives of […]
Virtualization makes it possible to bring corporate desktops and applications to any mobile device that suits an employee’s fancy. This flies in the face of vendors that are positioning their tablet PCs as more “enterprise ready” than Apple’s iPad, the predominant device in desktop virtualization deployments. HP, RIM and Cisco vociferously insist that their tablets are more than just iPad clones and come with much stronger security and management capabilities. Which is understandable since these […]
If potential cost savings are driving your desktop virtualization decision, beware the ROI killer: Over-provisioning. Over-provisioning is a nice way of saying you’re throwing money away. That could happen in a variety of forms, such as buying infrastructure that it better suited for a much larger company, planning for growth that doesn’t happen, or not doing your homework on what other technology you’ll need to support virtualization. But fear of wasteful spending shouldn’t stop you […]